LDNGuide

Where To Eat Noodle Soup In London

We don’t know what the question is, but noodles and broth is almost definitely the answer.
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Outside of Timothée Chalamet and a box of puppies, there are few combinations more soothing than noodles and soup. They’re warming, they’re nourishing, and they’re often soupy vehicles for a load of other delicious things on top too. From ramen and laksa to udon and phở, here are some of the best restaurants to eat noodle soups in London.

THE SPOTS

Sichuan

Spitalfields

$$$$Perfect For:Big GroupsCasual Weeknight DinnerCatching Up With MatesDining SoloLunch
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Order: Niu-rou Mian

Noodles, broth, and beer is a big combination. Thankfully, given their name, Noodle & Beer does not disappoint. The Sichuan restaurant in Spitalfields makes Chongqing-style noodles (both with and without broth) that combines their fantastic, lasso-like, hand-pulled wheat noodles with a variety of traditional xiao mian toppings. The niu-rou mian feels like noodle soup 101 here—combining soft, pink braised beef in a light and tingly broth—but it’s the vegetarian chongqing xiao mian that will separate the wheat from the chaff. Pickled greens, cabbage, peanuts, and electric, sour mustard greens. It’s a big bowl of pick-me-up.


photo credit: Laksamania

Order: Singapore Curry Laksa

Zero points for guessing what this Newman Street restaurant specialises in. The Soho favourite has made a name for itself by serving homely, huge portions (you'll definitely want to take away any leftovers). Pick between things like Singapore curry laksa with a coconut curry broth, shredded chicken, and king prawns, and the sour and spicy penang assam number. Just be prepared to ask for about 70 extra tissues when your nose inevitably starts running. It’s one of the best places for laksa in London and the compact but comfortable dining room makes it a great place to come with a small group, or even on your own for a lunchtime date with a bowl of steaming hot broth.


Order: Oxtail Kare Kare

The world of competitive ramen cooking is one that, sadly, we’re not yet familiar with. You may be though, in which case it’s worth noting that Ramo’s oxtail kare kare is a former championship winner. All we can say is that a bowl of this peanut-based goodness from the Filipino-influenced spot in Kentish Town can make anyone feel invincible. The creamy peanut-based broth is thick and luscious and, combined with soft oxtail and a fudgy orange egg, makes for something brown in colour but golden in flavour.


Order: Tom Yum

Thai food hot and cold, good and bad, is available all over London, but Supawan is one of a handful of always-reliable and legitimately-spiced spots in London. The tom yum coming out of their King’s Cross kitchen is the real deal. Sour and spicy, with punches of lemongrass and Thai basil that’ll make your taste buds gasp, it’s a bowl of soup that will enliven the coldest and weariest of souls.


Order: Build Your Own Ramen

A ramen specialist on Great Russell Street, Uzumaki is the perfect spot to head to with the anime fan in your life. The whole restaurant is anime-themed, with a huge colourful mural painted on the wall, references to Naruto on the menu, and a gift shop at the front with figurines from popular shows. Plus the ramen is pretty great too. Huge bowls of piping hot, beefy gyuniku broth with egg ramen (or udon noodles), topped with your choice of anything from enoki mushrooms and menmma bamboo, to chashu pork and wagyu beef slices. Prices can stack up quickly, but the bowl is big enough to keep you very full for the foreseeable future.


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Order: English Breakfast Udon

Where does one start with Koya? Well, preferably with your face over a bowl, feverishly slurping and snapping up London’s best udon. The supreme spot now has locations in the City and London Fields (as well as its Soho original), but the noodles remain brilliant. The English breakfast udon is still an ingenious creation—egg, bacon, mushroom, and salty pork broth with elastic udon—while their curry atsu-atsu is a permanent fixture on our ever growing list of self-care bowls of food.


Order: Ohn-no Kauk Swé

When you’re pining after some vitamin D, turn to Lahpet’s bigger space in Covent Garden for those coconut holiday feels. The ohn-no kauk swé from the Burmese spot is rich, creamy, and provides a tasty ray of warmth in the form of paprika oil. You’re going to want to use the crispy wonton to scoop up a mouthful of sticky egg noodles and some of that tender chicken, and then pray that you don’t end up with spring onion down your top. But if you do, it's fine, it’ll be worth it.


Order: The Special laksa (hot, with coconut milk on the side)

North London’s much-celebrated Malaysian spot makes laksa so pungent and spicy that you’ll feel like you’ve been slapped around the chops in a steam room. Their signature laksa comes with rice noodles, tofu puffs, green beans, and bean sprouts, and is a blazing orange bowl that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner. If you’re looking for a little more, then poached chicken or king prawns can be added. We very much endorse this. We also endorse asking for some extra coconut milk on the side. The curry laksa comes hot as standard so, if you need to, with some careful alchemy, you can find the perfect heat balance for your palate.


Order: Paigu Fun

Once you’ve sat down at Chew Fun, poured their electric chilli oil over your noodles, and happily gone face down into your bowl, then you’ll understand why solo slurping can be one of life’s great pleasures. The spot in between Whitechapel and Spitalfields is a specialist in Guilin fun—a rice noodle that’s eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the southern Chinese city. We go for noodles with broth all year-round, because England, and both the braised niurou fun (beef shin) and paigu fun (pork rib) toppings are a form of fiery comfort everyone needs.


Order: Dak Udong

The first thing you should know about Seoul Bakery is that, without fail, there’s always a queue to get in. The second is that their dak udong is big enough and spicy enough to clear your sinuses quicker than bathing in an entire pot of Vicks. This tiny Korean spot in Bloomsbury is cheerful and casual, ideal for a quick lunch or an early evening pit stop. Their ramyens, udongs, and ke jangs are under a tenner for a giant metal bowl of braised chicken that’s big enough to feed a family of four. Or, you know, you when you skipped breakfast.


Order: Wonton Noodle Soup With Crispy Pork Belly

The Chinatown institution isn’t somewhere you come for the finest hand-pulled noodles or the most carefully simmered and deeply flavoured soup. What you come for is a no-nonsense bowl of prawn and pork mush-stuffed wontons, an indefinable salty broth, and an extremely healthy scoop of their electrifying chilli oil. Ask for some crispy pork belly on top and you’ll have London’s best-value take on surf and turf.


Order: Combo Beef Phở With Tofu

Whether you’re cold, you’re suffering from a cold, or you just opened the fridge and thought ‘brrr’, the phở from Sông Quê will sort you out. A little corner seat at the Dalston heritage site and massive bowl of steaming hot broth and noodles is our go-to move for the majority of the year in London. The rare beef is essential and the tripe and tendon versions, combined with tofu, are also excellent. The broth is deep and clear without being heavy or overly meaty, like a Vietnamese consommé, and the effect it has (whether placebo or not) always feels restorative.


Order: Chongqing Spicy Noodle

Look at that glorious red shimmer. Just look at it. And then imagine if you were actually sat in front of it, steaming your pores with your nose already twitching from all that chilli. Now would also be a good time to tell you that all this spicy soup goodness is under a tenner. Plus, Mr. Meng on Charing Cross Road is home to many a spicy broth, ranging from seafood numbers to a chicken and matsutake mushroom broth that will make you throw that tin of Heinz cream of chicken some serious side-eye.


Order: Tainan-style Rare Beef Rump Noodle

There’s something quite exciting about bowls of food that come with other smaller bowls of food to interact with. We’re not talking about a chopping board burger and a mini basket of chips. We’re talking pink rump beef slices bobbing in broth ready to be dunked in a bright orange soy yolk on the side, or a little dish of savoury beef butter to swirl into your broth and noodles. That said, Bao’s bowl of noodles (only available from their Shoreditch noodle shop) would be delicious without them—they’re chewy, the broth is light but flavourful, and it’s a good size.


Order: Roast Chicken And Corn

Formerly a mega-popular pop-up, Supa Ya’s permanent location in Dalston still serves their excellent cult takes on ramen. Never claiming to be anything other than ‘traditionally unauthentic’, Supa Ya is probably London’s most reliably flavourful ramen spot. Bits like buttered chilli corn and roast garlic chilli oil are delicious, unusual, and very welcome accoutrements.


Order: Beef Brisket Noodle Soup

The sign outside Lanzhou reads ‘Noodle House’ because that’s exactly what it is. The low-key Chinatown spot pulls proper lamian until the early hours of the morning and for the hungry night owls of London, it remains an IYKYK kind of spot. The beef brisket is our 2am-phone-propped-up-behind-the-bowl choice. Springy noodles, a hearty, umami-ish soup, and a nap on the bus home incoming. 


Order: Chicken Laksa

No doubt an eponym to some of SW3’s wealthier inhabitants, Phat Phuc Noodles is one of the most reasonable and tasty places to eat in Chelsea. This little courtyard stall serves noodle dishes from across Asia—laksa, bun, and phở—all for under a tenner. It’s unlikely to be the best version of each you’ll ever try, but it’s the best in the area if you’re looking for a low price. The laksa is suitably rich, humming with coconut and chilli, and is our usual order.

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